Throat, as an important physiological organ of human body, has long been known as the “the first gate” of human body. It is closely related to the life activities of many systems, such as the digestive system, respiratory system and immune system; all of them can not be separated from the role of the throat. It can not only help the human body in blocking a number of bacteria outside and protect human health, but also involve in the functions such as swallowing, breathing, pronunciation, etc. But in real life, it is easy to be affected by a variety of external physical and chemical factors, biological factors, leading to inflammation of the mucous membrane of the pharynx, and producing laryngopharyngitis. It belongs to the throat discomfort category such as “pharynx paralyzation” and “laryngeal aphonia” in traditional Chinese medicine and pharyngitis, laryngitis in modern medicine.
Throat discomfort can be divided into pharyngeal discomfort and throat discomfort. Its pathological basis is mainly the acute and chronic inflammations of pharyngeal mucosa, submucosa and lymphoid tissue, caused by infection factors such as bacteria (such as A type Streptococcus) and virus, vocal fatigue and unscientific pronunciation, excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption and other non-infectious factors such as spicy stimulation. Its usual manifestation is such phenomena as dry throat and throat itching, dry cough, sore throat, cough with phlegm, foreign body sensation, increased pharyngeal secretion and easy nausea. The throat discomfort is mainly manifested by hoarseness, heavy and rough voice. Accompanied by hoarseness, increased throat secretions and dry throat will appear. And the patients often feel phlegm adhesion; whenever talking, they will feel sore in the throat, and have to cough to remove viscous phlegm.
At present, there are a lot of Chinese herbal medicine combinations for the treatment of pharyngitis, but they all contain much more ingredients and have complicated constitutions. For example, patent CN101721614 discloses a pharmaceutical composition having the efficacy of clearing throat and relieving swelling and pain, consisting of thirteen herb medicines such as honeysuckle, ophiopogon root, dried rehmannia root, radix sophorae tonkinensis, etc. Patent CN104225289 discloses a traditional Chinese medicine for treating pharyngitis, consisting of seventeen herb medicines such as polygonatum odorati, tremella, Radix Scutellariae, Radix Sophorae Flavescentis, etc.